How Much Longer Can the Costs Stay Unsustainable?

In the US, we have a crisis of cost and quality at both the individual consumer level and at the national level. According to the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid, spending for healthcare in was $3.2 trillion in 2015, or $9,990/person, and accounted for 17.8% of our Gross Domestic Product.

Healthcare costs were first labeled as 'unsustainable' at least 30 years ago when they reached 11% of GDP - and yet healthcare costs are projected to reach 20% of GDP by 2025.

How Much Longer Can the Costs Stay Unsustainable?

In the US, we have a crisis of cost and quality at both the individual consumer level and at the national level. According to the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid, spending for healthcare in was $3.2 trillion in 2015, or $9,990/person, and accounted for 17.8% of our Gross Domestic Product.

Healthcare costs were first labeled as 'unsustainable' at least 30 years ago when they reached 11% of GDP - and yet healthcare costs are projected to reach 20% of GDP by 2025.

Purchasing healthcare can be daunting. Often we don’t know what services we really need or what to do with the information we receive. We usually don’t know ahead of time what providers charge, what our insurance will pay or what our out-of-pocket costs will be. What if other industries operated like this? Imagine…

You wake up one morning feeling awful. You go to Bob’s house who you’ve known for years. Bob is your PCP (Primary Care Phriend), a great neighbor and trusted advisor. He takes one look at you and he says you need to eat some food!

Bob takes out his notepad and scribbles down the name Suburban Restaurant and some other scrawls that you can’t read. He calls ahead and makes a reservation for you. You’re familiar

During this election season Donald Trump declared Obamacare (aka the Affordable Care Act) a ‘Total Disaster’ and promised to repeal and replace it on Day One of his presidency. Republicans in Congress have been trying to do this since Day One of its enactment. The latest drumbeat about gutting the plan took place largely within the context that Hillary Clinton would probably win the presidency. This isn’t to say that Republicans like Obamacare and aren’t serious about their desire to repeal it. But what can they do, what will they do, and when will they do it?

No secret: In the US, we have a crisis of cost and quality at both the individual, consumer level and at the national level. According to the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid, spending for healthcare in was $3 trillion in 2014, or $9,523/person.

Before we can begin to untangle the Gordian knot that we call the US healthcare delivery system, we need to understand the challenges and how we got here. It doesn’t help that